Hosni Mubarak Could Step Down Tonight
Hosni Mubarak (emnnews.com)
Several news agency, such as NBC News or Channel 4, citing Al Arabiya, report that the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak could address the nation on national television on Thursday night to announce his resignation and to hand over transitional power to the Vice President Omar Suleiman.
NBC News reports the news as confirmed from two sources from the presidential palace in Cairo, and says that the army affirmed, at the end of an all-day meeting of supreme military council that the demands of the people who are protesting for a 17th day in Cairo and the rest of the country will be met.
Members of the Democratic Party of Mubarak confirmed that a statement would be issued by Mubarak on television tonight, but they did not say whether the president would announce his resignation.
The breaking news occurs as the demonstrations have moved from the Tahrir Square in front of the Parliament’s building, and a number of strikes all over the country have been constantly breaking out since yesterday in various industries and services.
Protests in Egypt (emnnews.com)
On Thursday, physicians marched the streets in while lab coats and the lawyers joined them in black robes, all demanding the same thing: the ouster of President Mubarak.
The report of Al Arabiya that the president would step down comes at a moment when the government had threatened to contain the demonstrations by means of military crackdown.
Governmental officials are quoted to have said that if the “adventurers” (i.e. protesters) take it too far, the army will have to interfere in order to protect the constitutional order of the country.
The resignation of Mubarak would probably be a huge victory for the people in Egypt, and would boost the Arab revolution in many other countries that have similar regimes.
Sources had announced a few days ago that the president would not go to Germany for treatment in the period to come, after it had been announced that he would leave Vice President in charge for the duration of the trip.
UPDATE: Speaking on national television, at 22:40 Egyptian time, Mubarak refused to resign, promising constitutional changes.
He said he would transfer power in many fields to Omar Suleiman, who is in charge of assuring a peaceful transition to democracy.
Like Ceausescu before him, back in 1989, he made references to some interference from abroad, and restated the determination of Egyptians to defend their independence.
People are still protesting in the streets, angry at the fact that he did not resigned. People throw shoes at him, which is the utimate insult in the Muslim world.
